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Scotch Collops

Veal collops sautéed in butter and served with a nutmeg‑flavored gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scotch Collops

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Cut veal into thin, round pieces about 3 inches wide.

  2. Beat the veal with a rolling pin.

  3. Grate a little nutmeg over the veal.

  4. Dip the veal in the egg yolk.

Cook and serve

  1. Fry the veal in butter until golden brown.

  2. In a separate pan, mix gravy with butter and flour, then add egg yolk and cream.

  3. Stir the sauce until it thickens, but do not boil.

  4. Serve the sauce over the collops.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a tender, browned meat.
Flour
Thickens the gravy into a smooth sauce as it cooks.
Egg yolk
Enriches and thickens the sauce, adding richness and body.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky texture to the sauce.
Butter
Browns the veal in the pan and adds richness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stir the sauce until it thickens, but do not boil. Egg yolk in the sauce can curdle and turn grainy if it gets too hot. Heating gently and stirring keeps the sauce smooth and thick.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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